BIRMINGHAM, Alabama -- Cooper Green Mercy Health Services will change hours of operations and add a primary care doctor to help reduce a backlog of patients waiting for care, county officials said today.

The Jefferson County Commission voted unanimously to change hours at the urgent care facility to 7 a.m. - 7 p.m. Mondays through Fridays. The current times are from 8 a.m. - midnight. The hours on the weekend will be from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. and no longer 8 a.m.-midnight.

County Manager Tony Petelos said the primary care has backlog of cases and shortening hours will allow county to shift resources and professionals to primary care, where the needs are.

The new hours begin Friday.

"The volume and utilization of the urgent care facility drops off after 7 p.m. every night," Deputy County Manager Walter Jackson said. "And on the weekends the volume is very low."

Most patients seen by urgent care after 8 p.m. come from city and county jails, Jackson said. Only 32 combined visitors were being seen on the weekends, he said.

Commissioner George Bowman said the change was a "good idea."

"It's an efficient use of time," he said. "We were shown statistics where the numbers drop off after 7 p.m. and where patients are lining up at 7 a.m."

The county also approved another primary doctor to assist with patients who wait hours for doctors or months for appointments.

"We are going to implement what's called a team approach to primary care," Jackson said. "When one doctor is busy another can see those patients."

Each of the center's four clinics will be combined allowing all medical professionals to see as many patients as possible, Jackson said.

"If one doctor is tied up then another doctor on this team can see a patient" who is waiting, he said. "That will cut down on the wait time."

The county's actions came one week after some area doctors and patients attended another in a series of forums on the downsizing of Cooper Green. The hospital closed its inpatient care unit and emergency room in January and began operating as an urgent care center.